In Brussels, top European Union diplomat condemns Monday's shooting attack on French Jewish school, but also mentions killings in Syria, Gaza and Norway

AFP|Published: 19.03.12 , 22:50

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton compared the children who were murdered in Monday's shooting attack
on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France with children who are killed in Gaza.

"When we think about what happened today in Toulouse, we remember what happened in Norway last year, we know what is happening in Syria,
and we see what is happening in Gaza and other places," Ashton said on the sidelines of a meeting of Palestinian youths in Brussels.

Ashton hailed the young Palestinians, who "against all odds, continue to learn, work, dream and aspire to a better future."

When speaking of Norway, Ashton was referring to Anders Behring Breivik's shooting spree last year, which left 77 people dead.

Monday's shooting attack on the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse claimed the lives of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 29, his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons Gabriel and Arieh and 8-year-old Miriam Monsonego, daughter of school headmaster Rabbi Yaacov Monsonego. A 17-year-old has been seriously injured.

According to police, a man riding on a scooter opened fire on the school at around 8:10 am, as the students were arriving for the school day, and then fled the scene. A local police official said the shooter fired 15 shots at the school and its students.